


Whatever It Takes

by Alyx17



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Help, I Made Myself Cry, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Sorry, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Spoilers, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-04-27
Packaged: 2020-02-07 12:02:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18620236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alyx17/pseuds/Alyx17
Summary: POST-ENDGAME SPOILERS DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN ENDGAME!!!******Peter receives a message from his mentor.





	Whatever It Takes

_ Peter slipped the gauntlet over his trembling hand, his heart beating wildly in his chest. He knew what came next-his body wracked with unendurable pain, his face rendered burnt and blank, his eyes empty and unresponsive. He swallowed a lump in his throat, bracing himself. Streaks of light suddenly seared through his vasculature, standing out white hot beneath his skin as he screamed. For a moment, the pain receded and he felt a vague giddiness as indescribable power flooded through him. Destroying Thanos and his armies felt not only possible but downright simple. The power was rising within him now, threatening to choke him and overwhelm his will. It was time. Now or never. _

 

_ “KID!’ a familiar voice roared. “Don’t you dare, do you hear me?” _

 

_ “Tony,” said Peter hoarsely. His vision blurred with tears. _

 

_ “Put that fucking thing down, do you understand me?” Tony was sprinting towards him, a look of sheer horror contorting his features. _

 

_ Peter looked up at Tony, managing a teary half-smile, “I’m going to save you.” _

 

_ Tony had almost made it to him now, was reaching out to take the gauntlet. “NO!” _

 

_ Peter took a deep breath. He snapped his fingers. _

 

“Peter!”

 

Peter woke with a start, gasping. His shirt was soaked through with sweat, his damp curls plastered to his forehead. “M-May…”

 

Aunt May’s worried face swam into focus before Peter’s eyes. May didn’t say anything, but grabbed his hand in hers until his breathing slowed and finally returned to normal. 

 

“Was it about Tony?” asked May.

 

Peter swallowed, hanging his head to conceal his tears. “I had the stones,” he whispered.

 

“What?”

 

“I--during the battle. I had them.”

 

“Peter--”

 

“I should have used them. It should have been me.”

 

“You know that’s not what Tony would have wanted.”

“You don’t understand! It didn’t even  _ occur  _ to me to use them. Tony sacrificed himself to bring Thanos down and it didn’t even  _ dawn on me  _ to consider that as an option. He was a hero. A  _ real _ hero. And I…. I don’t know what I am.”

 

“Peter, stop--”

 

“The World still needs him.”

 

“He  _ saved  _ the World, Peter. He gave himself up so that we could be safe.”

 

“ _ I  _ still need him!” Peter shouted. The words broke free of him without his permission, echoing in his ears.

 

May reached out for Peter, holding him to her as he finally succumbed to tears.

 

***

 

Humans, even after experiencing the worst kind of violence from a hostile alien force, still assaulted, robbed, and murdered each other. At first, Peter had refused to believe it. Surely, a post-Thanos Earth would be kinder, simpler, more noble? Surely, the beautiful monuments to Tony Stark, Natasha Romanov, and the countless others who had died to reverse the snap would make people think twice about spitting in the face of that sacrifice? 

 

For weeks, Peter had been unable to put on the suit. Putting that suit back on meant that the work was still unfinished. That humanity was fundamentally unchanged. Not only that, but he’d been reduced to ash in that suit. He’d watched Tony die in that suit. The suit  _ Tony  _ had made for him. 

 

Finally, after a particularly gruesome news story on a triple murder in Manhattan followed by grim statistics of  the skyrocketing crime rates in the post-snap chaos, Peter could take it no longer. It was time to go back on patrol. It was time to start protecting New York again. With trembling fingers, Peter put the suit on.

 

No sooner had the suit’s interface started up than a familiar voice boomed “Mr. Parker!”

 

Peter gasped, sinking down to his knees in shock. 

 

“If you’re hearing this, it means I valiantly succumbed to the inevitable. But it also means that we did it. That we brought you back. I’m recording this message to tell you one last time  _ not to be an idiot. _ ”

 

In spite of himself, Peter actually chuckled through the tears already pouring down his face. 

 

“I know what you’re thinking. ‘Mr. Stark died. How can I go on? Everything is meaningless.’ And I can’t say I blame you. I’m pretty much the best.”

 

Peter chuckled again, sitting down on his bedroom floor with his head on his knees, closing his eyes and basking in the voice of his late mentor.

 

“But in spite of all that, you must soldier on. You know why? Because you’re  _ special _ , kid. Really special. And I’m friends with Captain America, ok? The bar is high.”

 

Peter smiled.

 

“Do you remember the first time we met? When I came and talked to your hot aunt about that  fake grant? I should have known then how special you were. I came to get you because I was thinking about  _ me.  _ But you disarmed the hell out of me. I still remember you, sitting on that shitty twin bed, telling me about the enormous responsibility you felt to protect people. That you even felt like bad things happened  _ because  _ of you when you couldn’t prevent them. I’ve never felt like that, Peter, not once in my life. Do you know what  _ I  _ would have done with those powers of yours when I was your age?”

 

Peter remembered seeing Tony for the first time, sitting there on  _ his  _ couch in  _ his  _ apartment, there for  _ him.  _ He’d been overwhelmed beyond belief. He couldn’t believe that Tony still remembered what he’d said, all those years ago.

 

“And then, even when I took your suit away, when I discouraged you, you  _ still  _ did the right thing. You risked your life, you put it all out there, without your best defense. I should have known that you would do that. I guess even then I didn’t know quite what I was dealing with. How selfless you are. And when I offered you a spot on our team? You turned it down. You walked away from all that  _ power _ , all those  _ resources _ , because you knew it wasn’t the right thing for you. Do you know how much that takes? Oh yeah, and that wasn’t a test by the way. I really did have a room full of reporters.”

 

Peter snorted, imagining it. Imagining  _ Tony.  _

 

“And later… after that… I tried to be there for you. I know I wasn’t always… the best. I-- I wanted to be better than my father. I wanted to break the vicious cycle. And I tried, Peter. I… you’re my son. I thought of you that way.”

 

Peter squeezed his eyes shut against the onslaught of tears. He should have told Tony that he loved him. That he thought of him the same way.

 

“Anyway...I thought you should know. I was  _ still _ thinking about myself, even after Thanos wiped out all those people. Even after he killed  _ you.  _ I didn’t want to risk the new life I made for myself. I kept that stupid picture, though. The one that we took as evidence for May, that you really did an internship with me. We didn’t realize that the certificate was upside down until later, remember? We laughed so hard about that at that little pizza joint. I--it was you, Peter. I looked at that stupid picture and I knew I had to try. To go back. To fix it. And… if you’re listening to this, then I died doing that. And I’m telling you, now, because of your ridiculous guilt complex, not to feel bad about this. I knew what I was doing. I wanted this.”

 

Peter gasped through his tears, holding his knees to his chest. 

 

“I told you once that I wanted you to be better than me. You are, Peter. Better. You always were. And believe me, that’s saying something, because as we covered earlier, I am amazing… but the truth is… I first became Iron Man to protect myself. You first became Spider-Man to protect other people. There’s no contest here. There never was. I meant it, when you stowed away on that damn spaceship… you’re an Avenger now. I shouldn’t ask any more of you. I don’t have a right to. But I’m the selfish one here, so I’m asking. The World still needs the Avengers. And--my daughter. Pete, I--you’re the kind of person I want her to be around. I’ll be lucky if she turns out to be half as good as you.”

 

Peter looked up and steeled himself as he rose to his feet. He nodded, accepting Tony’s charges, feeling stronger through his grief.

 

“Alright, kid, this is where I leave you. Well… I guess I’ll never  _ leave _ you. I made your suit, I made your AI. I shaped you with my illustrious mentorship. And, uh… I love you, ok? Don’t make me say it again. Just replay the recording if you need to.”

 

Peter grinned. “I love you, too, Tony,” he muttered. 

 

Silence followed the recording until Karen chimed in. “Are you ready, Peter?”

 

Peter nodded, jumping up onto his windowsill. “Yes.”

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE let me know what you think, I live for your feedback and I'm also living in a pit of despair after End Game send help.


End file.
